Reuters Health News Summary

September 04, 2012|Reuters

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Organic food no healthier than non-organic: study

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Organic produce and meattypically isn't any better for you than conventional varietieswhen it comes to vitamin and nutrient content, according to anew review of the evidence. But organic options may live up totheir billing of lowering exposure to pesticide residue andantibiotic-resistant bacteria, researchers from StanfordUniversity and the Veterans Affairs Palo Alto Health CareSystem found.

Fresenius pulls the plug on Rhoen takeover bid

FRANKFURT (Reuters) - German healthcare conglomerateFresenius has dropped its attempt to take overRhoen-Klinikum after two other companies boughtstakes to block the 3.1 billion-euro ($3.9 billion) merger ofGermany's two biggest private hospital operators. Freseniussaid on Monday it has decided not to launch a renewed takeoveroffer "for the time being" but did plan to raise its stake inRhoen to above 5 percent, a level which would put it on a parwith its two antagonists, rival hospital operator Asklepios andhospital supplies firm B. Braun.

Almost half of teens with autism bullied: study

New York (Reuters Health) - Close to half of all teenagerswith an autism spectrum disorder are bullied at school, says asurvey of their parents. The results, published Monday in theArchives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, suggest that rateis much higher than the estimated 11 percent of bullied kids inthe general population.

"Sunshine" vitamin D found to speed tuberculosis recovery

LONDON (Reuters) - Scientists have shown how and why the"sunshine" vitamin D can speed recovery in tuberculosis (TB)patients, helping explain why the so-called heliotherapy of abygone, pre-antibiotic era may have done some good. From thelate 1800s - well before the development of antibiotics in1930s - TB patients were often sent to retreats where they wereencouraged to soak up the sun's rays in what was known asheliotherapy or phototherapy.

DR Congo Ebola outbreak death toll rises to 14: medics

KINSHASA (Reuters) - The death toll from an Ebola outbreakin northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo has risen to 14and the crisis is not yet under control, medical officials saidon Monday. The epicenter of the outbreak, which killed itsfirst victim last month, is in the busy town of Isiro inOrientale Province, but it has spread to the settlement ofViadana 75 km (45 miles) away, the World Health Organisation(WHO) said in a statement.

Some late-day surgeries as safe as earlier ones

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - People who have late-dayprostate and kidney surgeries fare just as well as those whohave their procedures earlier in the day, according to a newstudy. Previous research has hinted that morning procedures -including colonoscopies and surgeries to insert a stent - mightbe safer or more successful than those done later in the day(for example, see Reuters Health report of June 17, 2010).

Child porn evidence unreliable: study of Playboy

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - A commonly used method ofjudging a woman's sexual maturation may not be good enough inchild pornography prosecutions. That, at least, is what a groupof pediatric endocrinologists concluded from a study of morethan 500 Playboy centerfolds.

Inhaling steroids stunts growth, but not much

CHICAGO (Reuters) - Adults who took inhaled steroids aschildren to control their asthma may be shorter than theyotherwise would have been, but only by a little, U.S.researchers said on Monday. Results of a long-term asthma studyfound that children who used an inhaled steroid before theyentered puberty were about a half-inch shorter as adults thanthose who did not take the drugs.

StemCells Inc sees gains in two of three spinal injurypatients2012-09-03T125159Z_1_BRE8820AT_RTROPTC_0_US-STEMCELLS-SPINAL.XML () -